“By vote of the legislature and with the support of the state administration,” Nevada State Journal publisher J.G. Scrugham wrote, “Nevada is embarking upon an era of what may be termed ‘legalized liberality.’”

If one needed to encapsulate Nevada’s brand in a two-word phrase, “legalized liberality” is a strong contender. Scrugham, the former Nevada governor and future Nevada congressman, used the phrase in a cautiously optimistic editorial piece on March 19, 1931, the day the state would re-legalize “wide open” gaming (as well as shortening the residency requirement for divorce to six weeks). To mark the 85th anniversary of the occasion, we looked into the archives of our predecessors, the Reno Evening Gazette and Nevada State Journal, for excerpts from the efforts to ban gaming in 1909, and the efforts to reintroduce it during the heart of the Great Depression.

Anti-gambling league getting law ready for legislature

Reno Evening Gazette, Jan. 12, 1909

That the Reno Anti-Gambling league is hard at work securing petitions from different parts of the state to present to the Nevada legislature with a proposed anti-gambling law, and that the proposed anti-gambling law is now being framed by the judiciary committee of the league, is the substance of a statement made by Secretary Hooper of the Reno Anti-Gambling league to a Gazette man today.

“We do not intend to try and prohibit horse racing in Nevada or the selling of pools, neither do we intend to try and prohibit friendly bridge games, whist games, poker games and games of hearts played in the homes,” said Secretary Hooper, “But we do intent to try and have the Nevada legislature pass a law that will prohibit all percentage games in this state.”

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The front cover of the Feb. 24, 1909 edition of the Reno Evening Gazette.(Photo: RGJ archives)

A State Anti-Gambling Bill Should Be Passed

Reno Evening Gazette editorial, Feb. 4, 1909

The bill, if framed along the lines which we imagine it will be, ought to pass. Nevada is today the only state in the Union that legalizes all forms of gambling, and as such we are made the butt of ridicule and criticism all over the country. It is time this should be changed.

Assembly Passes Anti-Gambling Bill

27 for and 20 votes against

Reno Evening Gazette, Feb. 24, 1909

Carson City, Nev., Feb. 24 – The anti-gambling bill, which puts an end to gambling in Nevada for all time, today passed the Assembly by a vote of 27 to 20, despite the efforts of the gambling element to kill it by amendments. There was great cheering in the house immediately following the announcement of the vote, which lasted for more than a quarter of an hour.

Around town: Law-Maker

Nevada State Journal, January 18, 1931

Cheerfully declaring he has no bills to present and no statements for the public, Phil M. Tobin, youthful republican assemblyman from Humboldt county, arrived in Reno last night for his first session in the state legislature.

Reno's Bank Club in the 1930s, when Nevada legalized gambling.(Photo: Neal Cobb collection.)

Measure Given Public Hearing by Committee

Early Report Sought on ‘Wide Open’ Proposal

Nevada State Journal, Feb. 17, 1931

Nevada’s proposed licensed gambling law, which has already served as the center of attack at meetings in Reno, yesterday drew opposition at a legislative hearing in Carson City.

The proposed law, now in the form of a bill introduced by Assemblyman Phil Tobin of Humboldt county, was opposed by several witnesses at a hearing before the public morals committee of the assembly to which it was referred.

Surrender Seen

All those appearing against the measure stressed the moral issue, and argued that its adoption by Nevada would be a backward step.

It was contended that the real issue was enforcement of the present law, and that to side-step by enacting the new law was a surrender to the gamblers who violate the present statute.

Another argument was that enactment of the bill would drive the better class of residents away from the state, and that it would therefore be economically unsound.

State Assembly Passes Gambling Bill

Debate Heard Before Final House Action

Many Amendments to Measure Offered at Carson

Carson City, March 9 – (UP) – Nevada’s licensed-gambling bill, subject of much public discussion within and without the state, and often referred to as the “wide-open” gambling bill, went over one of the hurdles before it yesterday when it passed the assembly by a vote of 24 to 11.

Minors Barred

As passed the bill does not legalize gambling debts as some had anticipated it would.

It strictly prohibits minors from playing games or loitering in gambling establishments. Aliens are prohibited from securing licenses.

Phil Tobin, Humboldt county, introducer of the bill, declared that its purpose was not to make a Monte Carlo of Nevada, but merely to provide police regulation for an existing situation, and through taxation, to force a profitable business to bear its share of the state’s expenses.

(Washoe County Assemblyman Howard Malone) protested against the passage of the measure on moral grounds, declaring that such legislation undermined rather than aided society, and that it would also have a detrimental effect on business. “Poor old Nevada has some honor left, I hope, and will not pass such a law,” he concluded.

Fred S. Alward, Clark county, replied to this speech with a bitter attack on the lack of enforcement of present laws, declaring that both in Reno and Las Vegas gambling was flourishing, with women and children participating in the games and playing the slot machines.

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Front cover of the March 20, 1931 edition of the Nevada State Journal.(Photo: RGJ archives)

Gambling, Divorce Bills Signed

Balzar Adds Signature to Complete Passage of More Liberal Measures Through Machinery of Law Making

The gambling bill, signalizing Nevada’s return to the frontier days when poker, roulette and faro bank games flourished in crowded mining camps, becomes effective immediately …

Governor Balzar’s signature to the measure came as no surprise to legislators engaged in winding up the routine business of one of the most colorful and stormy sessions in Nevada history …

In Reno, which has been given the title of “divorce capital of America,” interest in the gambling bill threatened to overshadow the six-weeks residence law.

Governor Balzar’s only comment in announcing his action was: “Yes, I’ve signed them both.” The two bills reached his office yesterday, and were signed a short time later.

Hammers, saws and cement mixers were industriously at work last night as a night shift of workmen continued its rush toward completion of enlarging and renovating the Bank club, downtown gambling resort.